Aesop's Fables

Aesop's Fables is a collection of tales by the Greek storyteller Aesop. Most of the tales included here were translated and edited by Reverend George Fyler Townsend (1814-1900) in England and published under the title, Aesop's Fables. Townsend's translations were influential on many subsequent collections of fables. Some of the tales included here were taken from the book How to Tell Stories to Children and Some Stories To Tell, by Sara Cone Bryant and published in London in 1918. In some cases, we have included both Townsend's version and Bryant's version of the same tale.

Source:
This book was compiled by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology and includes passages from multiple sources. Please refer to the passage pages for further source information.

The parts of the body feel they are working very hard and the belly is not. They decide to stop working until the belly works harder. The consequences of this decision gave the body parts an important lesson on teamwork.

A shepherd boy falsely cries “wolf” twice just to get excitement from the villiage people, but when a real wolf comes and he cries “wolf” again, no one comes to his rescue. moral: no one believes a liar even when he tells the truth.

Jupiter and Venus argue if a living being can change its nature. Jupiter changes a cat into a maiden and has her marry. Venus lets loose a mouse during the wedding to see how she reacts. The maiden pounces on the mouse.

A starving Wolf is encouraged to come home with the Dog where he could work and be well fed. However, the Wolf would also be collared and chained. The Wolf decides he would rather be free and hungry than chained and well fed.

When a lion threatens to eat the fox and the donkey, the fox betrays his companion in an effort to rescue himself. In the end, the one who tried to keep himself out of danger was the first to be eaten.

Flies are drawn to spilled honey. After over-eating they find they cannot pull their feet out of the honey and fly away. When you are greedy, you may not know when you have enough and pay a very high price.

A Fox was boasting to a Cat of his hundred ways of excaping enemies. When they heard a pack of houds coming the Cat ran up a tree and hid. The Fox though of many ways to escape, and while he debated the hounds caught him and the hungers killed him.

After telling Mistress Crow how much he admires her, Master Fox is able to trick her into dropping her meal. Master Fox snaps it up and eats it. Mistress Crow learns a hard lesson about insincere compliments.

A Fox wants a bunch of Grapes to quench his thirst. He jumps to reach them several times. He is not able to reach them. As he leaves he decideds the grapes are probably sour and he wouldn’t like them anyway.

The Fox served the Stork soup in a shallow dish. The Stork could not lap it up. The Stork served the Fox dinner in a long-necked jar into which the Fox could not lap. Does one bad turn deserve another?

A Fox saw a Rooster sitting high beyond his reach in a hen-coop. He began to talk to the Rooster saying that King Lion had declared no beast may hurt a bird but all must live in friendship. When he saw a Dog coming toward him he ran saying the Dog may not have heard of King Lion’s decree.

A countryman found an egg in a Goose nest which proved to be solid gold. The countryman became weathy selling the continuous supply of golden eggs the Goose laid. Soon he grew greedy and thinking to get all the gold at once, he killed the Goose. He found nothing inside the Goose.

The Hart admires his antlers and dislikes his slim and slight legs. When escaping from a hunter, his legs swiftly carry him away, but his antlers get caught in a tree. This allows the hunter to come up on him. Sometimes we don’t appreciate what is most important. What is most valuable, the beautiful antlers or the skinny legs?

An animal being chased by hounds hids in the hay in a barn. When the hunters come into the barn they are told by the stable boys that they could see nothing. Shortly afterwards the master came in. He saw something unusual. He asked what the things sticking out of the hay might be. The Hart was discovered and done away with. Moral: Nothing escapes the eye of the master.

A herdsman loses a calf. He bargains with the deities. He will sacrifice a lamb if they will help him find the calf. Next he discovers a lion eating his calf and adds a full-grow bull to the sacrifice just to escape the lion with his own life.

A Horse and Stag quarreled. The Horse asked a Hunter to help him catch the Stag. The Horse agreed to wear a bridle and saddle to help the Hunter help him. After catching the Stag the Hunter would not take the bridle and saddle off.

The king of beasts, the Lion, makes an effort to bring peace between all of the birds and beasts over which he has reign. Having completed his ruling, one of the animals has a comment. This fable has a surprise ending.

A man who loved the Nightingale’s song set a trap for it and captured it. Since nightingales never sing in cages the man decided to eat it. The Nightingale bargained not to be eaten and to be set free. In return he would tell the man 3 things far bettter than eating him.

The Lion wakes as a mouse runs across his face. He caught the mouse who begs to be let go with a promise to help the Lion someday. Later, the Lion is captured by hunters. The mouse gnaws the rope and sets the Lion free.

A little Mouse wakened a sleeping Lion. Just as the Lion was about to eat the Mouse the Mouse cried out that he should be spared. Someday he might be able to do a good turn for the Lion. The Lion let the Mouse go. Much later, when the Lion was trapped the mouse gnawed the ropes holding him.

A Man and a Lion talked about the strength of men and lions. Each believed his species was stronger. The Man showed the Lion a statue of Hercules overcoming the Lion. The Lion believed this proved nothing because a man made the statue.

Seeing that the Lion appeared to be dying, a Goat, Sheep, and a Calf came to receive the last wishes of the Lord of Beasts. Soon the Lion seemed to recover and saw a Fox. He asked why the fox did not come to pay his respects. The Fox responded that he saw hoof-marks going into the Lion’s cave and none coming out.

A Man and a Lion each boast of their strength. Upon seeing a statue of a Man strangling a Lion the Man points out how strong man is. The Lion replies that if the statue had been made by Lions Man would be under the Lion’s paw.

A Man lost in a wood on a cold night was promised lodging for the night by the Satyr. The Satyr asked the Man why kept blowing on his hands. The Man replied that his breath warmed them. Once home with the Satyr he was given a hot bowl of food. He raised the spoonful and blew on it. The Satyr asked why he was now blowing on the food. The man replied that he was cooling the food which was too hot. Immediately the Satyr threw him out because he would not have anything to do with a person who could blow hot and cold.

A man takes revenge on a serpent that killed his son by cutting his tail. The serpent takes revenge on the man by killing his cattle. When both are satisfied with their revenge, the man tries to be friends with the serpent, but the serpent cannot forgive the loss of his tail. Moral: Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten.

A Man and his son were going to market with their Donkey. One countryman who saw them told them a donkey was to ride upon, another countryman said the father ought to ride not the son, some women thought the boy shouldn’t have to walk, and then passerbys jeered at them for overloading the Donkey so. After thinking hard the Man and his son tied the Donkey to a pole and began to carry him. The Donkey ended up falling over a bridge and drowning. An old man who had seen all of this pointed out that in trying to please everyone they had pleased no one.

Patty the Milkmaid was going to market carrying milk in a Pail on her head. She began thinking of what she would do with the money she would get for the milk. She dreamed of a new frock and hat. She imagined tossing her head which caused her to toss her head back. The Pail fell off, the milk was spilt, and she had to tell her mother what she had done.

Once a Miser hid his gold at the foot of a tree. Every week he would dig it up and delight in how much was there. A robber noticed, dug up the gold, and took it away. When the Miser discovered his gold was gone a neighbor told him to come look at the hole in the ground as it would do just as much good as looking at the gold.

A wolf overhears a child’s Nurse threaten to throw him out the window if he cries. The child cries, but when the Nurse sees the wolf she calls the dogs to chase the disappointed wolf away. The moral being, “Enemies’ promises were made to be broken.”

A country man sows hemp seeds and a swallow warns the birds to eat all the seeds up, the birds did not take the swallow’s advice and the seeds grew into a net of cords that caught the birds. Moral: destroy evil before it destroys you.

The Town Mouse visits the Country Mouse. The food was different from what the Town Mouse was used to. He complained and invited the Country Mouse to visit him in the city. During the Country Mouse’s visit he was frightened by his experiences. He decided it was better to eat poorly and be comfortably safe than eat richly and be afraid for one’s life.

The Traveler is ready to leave on the journey when he sees his Dog in the doorway stretching. He snaps at the dog to get ready, blaming the dog for delaying them. Moral: The one who is late sometimes blames the tardiness on others who are already ready.

Two Fellows were traveling through a wood. A Bear rushed out upon them. One traveler hid himself among the leaves of a branch from a tree. The other threw himself on the ground. The Bear after much sniffing walked away. The fellow in the tree asked what Master Bruin whispered. His friend answered, “Never trust a friend who deserts you at a pinch.”

The Wind and Sun argued about who was stronger. They decided whichever could cause a traveler to take off his cloak would be seen as stronger. The Wind blew and the traveler wrapped his cloak more tightly around himself. The Sun shone and soon the traveler found it to hot to walk with his cloak on.

This story gave rise to the idiom: “A wolf in sheep’s clothing.” A wolf covers himself with a sheepskin so he can hide in a herd of sheep. His plan is to get close to a sheep so he can attack successfully.

A Woodman took a Serpent that appeared to be dead home to warm it. As the Serpent came to life again a child reached out to touch it. The Serpent was about to sting the child when the Woodman cut the Serpent in two.